Financial TimesPalestinian kills 3 Israelis outside West Bank settlementABC NewsIsraeli police blocks the road to Har Adar settlement near Jerusalem, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017. Israeli police said that a Palestinian attacker opened fire at the entrance to the settlement killing three Israeli men and critically wounding a fourth.Palestinian gunman kills three I […]

ForbesItalian Bike Race's Move To Israel Throws Up Questions For Arab Teams And Potential For DétenteForbesOne of the world's most prestigious bike races, the Giro d'Italia, will visit Israel as part of its schedule next year, throwing up a potentially thorny problem for two of the teams that will be expected to take part and which are sponsor […]

HaaretzTurkey's Erdogan threatens to halt renewed Israel ties over backing for Kurdish stateJewish Telegraphic Agency“If Israel does not reconsider its support for Kurdish independence, Turkey will not be able to take many steps we would have with Israel, too,” Erdogan said Tuesday, the day after a nonbinding referendum by Iraqi Kurdistan on whether to […]

National PostBarbara Kay: Boycott Roger Waters, rock legend and rabid Israel haterNational PostIn 2013 lead Animals singer Eric Burdon cancelled an appearance in Israel, intimidated by the relentless anti-Israel “pro-peace” zealots of the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Other celebrities who have caved to threats of shunning and ...and more » […]

Page SixDon't mention Israel to Greta GerwigPage SixAs Greta Gerwig gathers Oscar buzz for her directorial debut, “Lady Bird,” journalists are being told not to ask the actress about her recent opposition to Lincoln Center's performances of a play co-produced by two Israeli theater companies and backed ...

HaaretzIsrael Refuses to Stop Arms Sales to Myanmar, Despite Its Campaign of Rape, Torture and Massacres Against the ...HaaretzResponding on Monday to a petition in the High Court of Justice from human-rights activists demanding an end to the arms sales, Shosh Shmueli, representing the state, said the court should not interfere in Israel's foreign relat […]

Jewish Telegraphic AgencyConan and 'Transparent' give Israel the normalcy it cravesJewish Telegraphic AgencyYet both shows appeared to have emerged from an earlier, less complicated era when Israel was largely seen as a regional good guy and the Palestinians as an uncomfortable but ultimately solvable nuisance if only haters on both sides would let […]

The Electronic Intifada (blog)Germany's new Nazis see Israel as role modelThe Electronic Intifada (blog)While Germany needs no lessons in how to be racist, this catastrophe can in part be attributed to leaders in Israel and their fanatical supporters: for years they have made common cause with Europe's far right, demonizing Muslims as alien invader […]

The Times of IsraelIsraeli tech helps Mexican rescuers locate quake victimsThe Times of IsraelRadio-wave technology developed by Israeli firm Camero-Tech that can “see” through solid walls is helping rescue workers in Mexico search through rubble for buried victims, Amir Beeri, the CEO of the firm, said. “We got reports from our representative ...

When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo arrived in a Maria-devastated Puerto Rico Friday, he brought with him a half-dozen electrical generators – coveted assistance for an island that officials estimate could be without power for months. If New York’s governor saw fit to demonstrate solidarity with Puerto Rico, it is because of the sizable and well-established Puer […]

After a hurricane, earthquake, or a terrorist attack, artists and performers are usually not first responders. A good example was Telemundo’s four-hour telethon on Sept. 24 that brought out stars such as Jennifer Lopez on behalf of the victims of hurricanes Maria, Harvey, Irma, as well as the Mexican earthquakes. “The healing power of the arts is a real thin […]

For two days after Mexico’s 7.1 earthquake toppled scores of buildings, killing what’s now believed to be nearly 300 people, the country was captivated by the story of Frida Sofía, a 12-year-old on the brink of a miraculous rescue. Frida Sofía didn’t exist. Recommended: How much do you know about Mexico?

In a bright and boxy photo studio in South Sudan’s capital, an industrial printer is spitting out a glossy stack of exotic vacation snapshots. Recommended: Think you know Africa? “Couches, grand pianos, far away houses – these are the things people most like to have the backgrounds in their pictures,” says Tsedeke Abebaw, the owner of On Time Photo Studios i […]

We all heard Donald Trump brag about committing sexual assault. It was shocking to hear, and upsetting to nearly everyone. Trump wants us to believe that it was locker room banter: just men talking the way men talk! In other words, it was harmless. But Donald Trump is wrong. The words he spoke were not […] The post What It Feels Like to Be A Survivor of Sex […]

Judging by the number of articles, words per article, comments per article, and pure passion, one could reasonably conclude that the war of words being waged against Open Orthodoxy is of major public interest and concern. I am certain that many people are extremely invested in how this all plays out on the pages of […] The post Why the War of Words About Ope […]

Presenting another episode of Finkorswim Live on the Stunt Show. Today’s show featured two topics. Understanding both sides of the Orthodox women rabbis issue and Elad Nehorai joined us to talk about Hevria and Hevria Academy. The show aired at 1 PM ET today on NachumSegal.com and the NSN App. The show has been archived and is available as a podcast on […] T […]

About a year ago, I launched a series of Torah classes that has taken me on an inspiring journey. The chief complaint of the mostly Millennial group who asked me to teach this class, was that they were fluent in the basics of Judaism, they knew the curated version of its meaning that they learned in school, they wanted […] The post My Course on Non-Conformis […]

This article first appeared on Haaretz.com. It is reproduced here with permission. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the starting block and finish line of our yearlong journey. The High Holidays offer us time to reflect, repent, and redo. We are seeking a chance to start over, aspiring to a better life. As we start […] The post Why Jews Should Look to Germany […]

The High Holidays are upon us. For the last 7 years, I have been in Venice for the High Holidays. I will certainly miss that experience this year. A few people asked me if I would be leading a High Holidays service this year. I would love to lead a High Holidays service this year. […] The post Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Services appeared first on Finkorswi […]

Orthodox Judaism emphasizes Talmud study. Some people love the analysis and debate format of the Talmud but other people prefer studying the final decisions of the Talmud. They don’t enjoy the argument and discussion in the Talmud, and they most certainly do not love the layer upon layer of subsequent debate about the arguments in […] The post Why Can’t We A […]

This article first appeared in the Jewish Journal. The Jewish family is in a constant state of mourning. Most of the time, we push our mourning to the back of our collective consciousness and carry on our daily lives as if we’ve suffered no loss. Once a year, though, we allow the misery and pain […] The post Who Will Comfort Us? appeared first on Finkorswim. […]

The Pew Research Center released their recent study, and the results paint a bleak picture of our religious future in America. It is clear: God’s poll numbers are down across the board, and especially among Millennials. Immediately, frantic media headlines prophesied the end of religion as we know it. Is this fate? Are we destined to live […] The post Religi […]

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Section This Day, In Jewish History : 24JEWISH ALERTS large selection in each section

The Jews in Poland-Lithuania and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day

Moses Schorr, Polish: Mojżesz Schorr (May 10, 1874 – July 8, 1941) was a rabbi, Polish historian, politician, Bible scholar,assyriologist and orientalist. Schorr was one of the top experts on the history of the Jews in Poland. He was the first Jewish researcher of Polish archives, historical sources, and pinkasim. The president of the 13th district B’nai B’rith Poland, he was a humanist and modern rabbi who ministered the central synagogue of Poland during its last years before the Holocaust.Photos by Wikipedia

H. Robert Horvitz won the Nobel Prize following a unique insight that mysteries of human genetics could be elucidated by studying lowly animals.

H. Robert Horvitz (MIT/HHMI): When Stockholm Called

Lecture Summary: Have you ever wondered how scientists react when they discover that they have been awarded a Nobel Prize? Horvitz, one of the winners of the 2002 Prize for Medicine or Physiology, tells us where he was and what he did when he found out he had won.

Howard Robert Horvitz(born May 8, 1947) is an American biologist best known for his research on the nematode wormCaenorhabditis elegans.

Horvitz was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mary R. (Savit), a school teacher, and Oscar Freedom Horvitz, a GAO accountant.[1]He did his undergraduate studies at MIT in 1968, where he joined Alpha Epsilon Pi. He obtained his PhD in Biology from Harvard University in 1974. Photos by youtube

Marcus Loew started working at age 6, quit school at 9 and became the quintessential capitalist, building an entertainment empire and creating MGM.

MGM 90th Anniversary – Official® [HD]

22.01.2014
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) announced today a yearlong global campaign to honor the studio’s storied 90-year legacy. Founded in 1924 when theater magnate Marcus Loew bought and merged Metro Pictures Corp. with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions, MGM and its legendary roaring lion logo signify the golden era of Hollywood to film lovers around the world. Since its inception, the company has led the industry in creating some of Hollywood’s greatest stars and is home to over 175 Academy Award-winning films, including 14 Best Pictures.

The celebration of 90 extraordinary years kicks off today, as the MGM icon, Leo the Lion, is immortalized with a paw print ceremony at the world famous TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, cementing his place in Hollywood history. Sylvester Stallone, writer and star of Rocky (1976), one of MGM’s most iconic and enduring characters, is also on hand to commemorate the special occasion.

MGM is debuting a special 90th anniversary trailer which will play in theaters, on MGM channels  including MGM’s 24/7 movie network, MGM HD its action-themed VOD channel, Impact and its premiere multicast programming service dedicated to movies, THIS TV  as well as on DVD products and across social media. The trailer includes a tapestry of iconic images and scenes from films in MGM’s library, evoking a deep emotional connection and celebrating the company’s extensive contributions to the entertainment world.

Additionally, several of MGM’s signature films including Rocky, Rain Man, Fargo, RoboCop and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, have been meticulously restored in 4K resolution (four times the clarity of HD) and will be presented on Blu-ra for a high-definition home viewing experience. These re-releases will be issued through MGMs home entertainment partner, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, and are now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Other initiatives to mark the companys 90th anniversary include:

– MGM will complement its already vast collection of films currently available on Blu-ray by releasing new titles across all genres throughout the year. Upcoming titles for release include In the Heat of the Night, A Chorus Line, and The Birdcage.

– MGM has created a one-of-a-kind collector’s book and bonus video disc companion commemorating 90 amazing years, featuring interviews from award-winning filmmakers, directors, and actors discussing the significance of their contributions to MGM’s legacy. The book and video highlight the evolution and history of the legendary studio and provide an extensive look into the studio’s golden years, classics, iconic franchises and much more. Interviews include Sylvester Stallone on Rocky, Clint Eastwood on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis on Thelma and Louise, and Walter Mirisch on The Pink Panther. The bonus disc will also be available accompanying select DVD offerings.

– Fans can also relive their favorite film moments at MGM90th.com, a unique Tumblr website and the first Tumblr integration to feature a studios full library. The MGM 90th Tumblr site’s dynamic design encourages fans to explore and immerse themselves into rich content celebrating 90 years of MGM filmmaking. As fans integrate socially with the yearlong celebration, the Tumblr site will serve as an active aggregator showcasing all of the current sharing and postings.

Marcus Loew (May 7, 1870 – September 5, 1927) was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Marcus Loew was born into a poor Polish Jewish family who had emigrated to the U.S. And settled in New York City just a year before. He was forced by circumstances to work at a very young age and had little formal education. Nevertheless, beginning with a small investment from money saved from menial jobs, he bought into the penny arcade business. Shortly after, in partnership withAdolph Zukor and others, Loew acquired a nickelodeon and over time he turned Loew’s Theatres into a leading chain of vaudeville and movie theaters in the United States.Photos by Wikipedia

Alfred Hermann Fried(11 November 1864 – 5 May 1921) was an Austrian Jewish pacifist, publicist, journalist, co-founder of the German peace movement, and winner (with Tobias Asser) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1911.

Born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, Fried left school at the age of 15 and started to work in a bookshop. In 1883 he moved to Berlin, where he opened a bookshop of his own in 1887. Following the publication by Bertha von Suttner of Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms) in 1889, he and von Suttner began in 1892 to print a magazine of the same name. In articles published within Die Waffen nieder! and its successor, Die Friedenswarte (The Peace Watch), he articulated his pacifist philosophy.Photos by Wikipedia

Hetty Goldman (December 19, 1881 – May 4, 1972) was an American archaeologist. She was the first woman faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study[1] and one of the first female archaeologists to undertake excavations in Greece and the Middle East.

Maharal of Prague’s Netivot Olam w/R. Daniel Kohn

Judah Loew ben Bezalel, alt. Loewe, Löwe, or Levai, (c. 1520 – 17 September 1609)[1] widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, or simply The MaHaRaL, the Hebrew acronym of the initials of “Moreinu Ha-Rav Loew,” (“Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew”) was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who, for most of his life, served as a leadingrabbi in the cities of Mikulov in Moravia and Prague in Bohemia.

Within the world of Torah and Talmudic scholarship, he is known for his works on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism and his work Gur Aryeh al HaTorah, a supercommentary on Rashi’s Torah commentary.

The Maharal is the subject of a nineteenth-century legend that he created The Golem of Prague, an animate being fashioned from clay. Photos by Wikipedia

Congregation Mikveh Israel, Mikveh Israel synagogue, officially called Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel (Hebrew: קהל קדוש מקוה ישראל‎, which translates as “Holy Community of the Hope of Israel”, is a synagogue founded in the 1740s inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Established by Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the congregation practices according to theSpanish and Portuguese rite. The congregation conducts daily, Sabbath, and Jewish holy day services. The synagogue will host the Abrams Hebrew Academy Center City Jewish elementary day school beginning in September 2014.[2] The congregation is also responsible for Mikveh Israel Cemetery, the second oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the United States. Photos by Wikipedia

Miles Davis’ All Blues performed at ‘Jazz in the Sukkah” in Philly in America’s oldest synagogue

America’s oldest synagogue, Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, founded in 1740, hosts a Jazz Night to celebrate the Jewish holiday Sukkot. A six piece band entertains the crowd, lead by the temple’s talented maintenance man. Here’s the jam on a legendary Miles Davis song. An amazing celebration of cultures and community.

Georges Moustaki : Les Mères Juives

Georges Moustaki (born Giuseppe Mustacchi;[1] (May 3, 1934 – May 23, 2013) was an Egyptian-French singer-songwriter ofItalo-Greek origin, best known for the poetic rhythm and simplicity of the romantic songs he composed and often sang. Moustaki gave France some of its best-loved music by writing about 300 songs for some of the most popular singers in that country, such asÉdith Piaf,[1] Dalida, Françoise Hardy, Yves Montand, Barbara, Brigitte Fontaine, Herbert Pagani, France Gall, Cindy Daniel, Juliette Greco, Pia Colombo, and Tino Rossi, as well as for himself.[2]

Georges Moustaki was born Giuseppe Mustacchi in Alexandria, Egypt on May 3, 1934. His parents, Sarah and Nessim Mustacchi, were Francophile, Italo-Greek Sephardic Jews from the island of Corfu, Greece. They moved to Egypt, where their young child first learned French. They owned the Cité du livre – one of the finest book shops in the Middle East – in the cosmopolitan city ofAlexandria where many ethnic communities lived together.

Avigdor Arikha was born to German-speaking Jewish parents in Rădăuţi, but grew up in Czernowitz in Bukovina, Romania (now inUkraine).[1] His family faced forced deportation in 1941 to the Romanian-run concentration camps of Transnistria, where his father died. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of the International Red Cross.

Arikha emigrated to Palestine in 1944, together with his sister. Until 1948, he lived in Kibbutz Ma’ale HaHamisha. In 1948 he was severely wounded in Israel’s War of Independence. From 1946 to 1949, he attended the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem Photos by Wikipedia

Even today, nearly 50 years later, Auerbach is generally remembered as the finest coach professional basketball has ever seen, although his …

Red Auerbach’s last interview (from ‘Basketball Man’)

30.10.2006
NBA giant Red Auerbach gave his last filmed interview to Burt Kearns & Brett Hudson of Frozen Pictures for inclusion in the documentary feature, Basketball Man, about the life and legacy of basketball’s inventor, Dr. James Naismith (on DVD in February).

This clip is but a small portion of the complete, comprehensive, interview, which will be featured as a bonus extra on the DVD set.

Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006[1]) was an American basketball coach of theWashington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Boston Celtics. After he retired from coaching, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death. As a coach, he won 938 games (a record at his retirement)[1] and nine National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in ten years (a number surpassed only by Phil Jackson, who won 11 in twenty years). As general manager and team president of the Celtics, he won an additional seven NBA titles, for a grand total of 16 in a span of 29 years,[2] making him one of the most successful team officials in the history of North American professional sports.

Arnold Jacob Auerbach was one of the four children of Marie and Hyman Auerbach. Hyman was a Russian Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Belarus, and Marie Auerbach, Photos by Wikipedia

If the World Jewish Congress, which was joined by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in Los Angeles, had meant to torpedo Waldheim’s bid to become …

Kurt Waldheim, a commission of enquiry parts 1-9

These nine films are part of a much larger programme that was aired in 1988 which looks into allegations that the recently elected president of Austria Kurt Waldheim was a Nazi war criminal. Waldheim had previously been the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981. I do not possess any more of this programme which I ‘rediscovered’ in 2008 on a VHS cassette used some 20 years earlier.

Waldheim had unsuccessfully sought election as President of Austria in 1971, but his second attempt on 8 June 1986 proved successful. During his campaign for the presidency in 1985, the events started that marked the beginning of what became known internationally as the “Waldheim Affair”. Before the presidential elections, Alfred Worm revealed in the Austrian weekly news magazine Profil that there had been several omissions about Waldheim’s life between 1938 and 1945 in his recently-published autobiography. A short time later, the World Jewish Congress alleged that Waldheim had lied about his service as an officer in the mounted corps of the SA, and his time as an ordnance officer for Army Group E in Saloniki, Greece, from 1942 to 1943 based in files from the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Waldheim called the allegations “pure lies and malicious acts”. Nevertheless he admitted that he had known about German reprisals against partisans: “Yes, I knew. I was horrified. But what could I do? I had either to continue to serve or be executed.” He said that he had never fired a shot or even seen a partisan. His former immediate superior at the time stated that Waldheim had “remained confined to a desk”.
Part of the reason for the controversy was Austria’s refusal to address its national role in the Holocaust – which was the home not only of Adolf Hitler but also many other leading Nazis. Austria refused to pay compensation to Nazi victims and from 1970 onwards refused to investigate Austrian citizens who were senior Nazis.
Because the revelations leading to the Waldheim affair came shortly before the presidential election there has been speculation about the background of the affair.
Declassified CIA documents show that the CIA had been aware of his war time past since 1945. Some sources report information about Waldheim’s wartime past was also previously published by a right wing Austrian newspaper during the 1971 presidential election campaign – including the claim of an SS membership.

Kurt Josef Waldheim(German pronunciation:[ˈkʊɐ̯t ˈvaldhaɪm]; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President ofAustria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for president in Austria in 1985, his service as an intelligence officer in theWehrmacht during World War II raised international controversy. Photos by Wikipedia

Hatikva at Bergen-Belsen

In rare and moving footage dated to April 20th 1945, inmates at Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp sing the anthem of hope ‘Hatikva.’

Bergen-Belsen (or Belsen) was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp,[1] in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially this was an “exchange camp”, where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas.[2] The camp was later expanded to accommodate Jews from other concentration camps.

The Liberation of Bergen-belsen Concentration Camp, April 1945
Cheerful women inmates collect their bread ration from one of the five camp cookhouses.

After 1945, the name was applied to the displaced persons camp established nearby, but it is most commonly associated with the concentration camp. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there,[3] with up to 35,000 of them dying of typhus in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberationPhotos by Wikipedia

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK Ahead of the 70th anniversary of its liberation, a visit to the German camp with what is Europe’s largest Jewish cemetery, accompanied by some of the ‘babies’ born in the DP camp after the war

By RENEE GHERT-ZAND

EDDIE STRAIGHT – BELSEN LIBERATOR TTTV

22.04.2015
Eddie Straight age 94 of Saltburn, a former Company Sgt. Major of the 11th Armoured Division, recalls liberating Bergen-Belsen on the 70th anniversary.

Bergen Belsen Liberation

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Between 1943 and the war’s end, an estimated 50,000 Russian Prisoners of War and a further 50,000 inmates died there,up to 35,000 of them dying of typhus in the first few months of 1945.
The camp was liberated on April 15, 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division.60,000 prisoners were found inside, most of them seriously ill, and another 13,000 corpses lay around the camp unburied.When the British and Canadians advanced on Bergen-Belsen in 1945, the German army negotiated a truce and exclusion zone around the camp to prevent the spread of typhus. Under the agreement, Hungarian and regular German troops guarding the camp returned to German lines when Allied troops liberated the camp on April 15, 1945.

(Uploader note: Ripped from youtube, comments were disabled – not sure why. Video’s like this must be commented and be reflected so that we can never forget history, otherwise we are condemned to relive this.)

Bergen-Belsen

Eva Kor speaks about Auschwitz, medical experiments, and forgiveness

At the age of 10, Eva and her twin sister Miriam were taken to Auschwitz, the concentration camp where Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele used them for medical experiments.

Nazi Experiment Survivor Eva Mozes Kor Speaks at Clarkson University

Auschwitz survivor Eva Mozes Kor delivered a powerful message of forgiveness on October 8 at Clarkson University, while speaking before a large audience of students, faculty, staff and community members.

When she was about 10 years old, Kor and her family were taken by the Nazis to the Auschwitz slave labor and extermination camp, where her parents and two older sisters were quickly sent to the gas chambers.

Kor and her sister, Miriam, were twins, so they were of chilling interest to Dr. Josef Mengele, who subjected them to a series of heinous human experiments.

Her talk, “The Journey from Auschwitz & Mengele to Forgiveness,” told the amazing story of what she endured and how she eventually came to forgive Mengele and the Nazis.

Sheila Faith Weiss, professor of history in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Clarkson, arranged for Kor to share her story.

“I received a $277,000 National Science Foundation grant to write a biography of Dr. Mengele’s mentor, the German human geneticist Baron Otmar von Verschuer, and I had been in contact with Eva Mozes Kor,” Weiss says. “Because I am teaching a seminar on the Holocaust this semester, I asked Eva whether she might be willing to give a lecture at Clarkson. Normally, she would have charged more for her talk, but generously agreed to accept significantly less so we could bring her here. Her message is especially important for our students to hear.”

Trained in German history and the history of biology, Weiss has written a book which explores the background that led to the kind of bestial human experimentation Kor was subjected to in Auschwitz. The Nazi Symbiosis, Human Genetics and Politics in the Third Reich (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010) raises compelling questions about medicine and ethics.

Forgiving Dr. Mengele

Eva Mozes Kor, who survived Josef Mengele’s cruel twin experiments in the Auschwitz concentration camp, shocks other Holocaust survivors when she decides to forgive the perpetrators as a way of self-healing.

Władysław Bartoszewski[vwaˈdɨswaf bartɔˈʂɛfskʲi] ( listen) (19 February 1922 – 24 April 2015) was a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer, and historian. He was born in Warsaw.

He was a former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner.[1] He was a World War II Resistance fighter and Polish undergroundactivist. Bartoszewski participated in the Warsaw Uprising. He was wrongly convicted as a spy and was imprisoned for some years before being released due to medical problems and for being wrongly convicted during the 1950s.[2]

Bartoszewski served twice as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from March through December 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001.[3] He was also an ambassador and a member Photo by Wikipedia

Exodus 1947 Documentary Trailer

After World War II, a group of private American citizens banded together in a clandestine effort to transport Holocaust survivors to Palestine.

On July 11, 1947, in the port of Sête, France, 4,500 Jewish refugees were crammed into the hull of a decrepit steamship, later named Exodus 1947.

A British blockade intercepted Exodus 1947 in international waters off the coast of Palestine. The tense standoff culminated in a direct attack by military personnel against the unarmed civilians on the Exodus 1947. This highly publicized international incident heavily influenced the United Nations resolution authorizing the partitioning of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Thus, the Exodus 1947 voyage acted as a catalyst in forming a new nation. The program focuses on clandestine and illegal American efforts to finance and crew the most infamous of ten American ships that attempted to bring Jewish refugees to Palestine.

EXODUS 1947 is a one hour documentary narrated by Morley Safer with a score by Ilan Rechtman. The film is a richly layered program, constructed with first person accounts to recall events that shaped world history.

Yossi Harel (Hebrew: יוסי הראל‎) (January 4, 1918 – April 26, 2008), born Yosef Hamburger, was the supervisor of the Exodus 1947 operation and a leading member of theIsraeli intelligence community.[1]

Yossi Harel was born in Jerusalem in 1918. He was a sixth generation Jerusalemite. At the age of 15, he joined the Haganah. Later, he fought under Orde Wingate. Between 1945 and 1948, he played a leading role in the clandestine immigration enterprise in Palestine, commanding four Aliyah Bet ships: Knesset Israel, the Exodus, Atzma’ut and Kibbutz Galuyot. After the establishment of the State of Israel Harel studied mechanical engineering at M.I.T in the United States. Just before he finished his studies, Moshe Dayan, as Chief of Staff, called him back to Israel to investigate the Lavon Affair and made him head of Unit 131, an Israel Defense Forces intelligence unit.Photo by Wikipedia

Beauty Queens: Estée Lauder

What’s New at Estee Lauder

Estée Lauder (/ˈɛsteɪˈlɔːdər/; July 1, 1908 – April 24, 2004) was an American businesswoman. She was the co-founder, along with her husband, Joseph Lauter (later Lauder),[2] of Estée Lauder Companies, her eponymous cosmetics company. Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. She was the recipient of thePresidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted to the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1988.Photos by Wikipedia

Israel Independence Day Fireworks 2015

David Ben-Gurion declaring independence beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism

Yom Ha’atzmaut (Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎ Yōm hā-ʿAṣmāʾūṯ lit. “Independence Day”) is the national day of Israel, commemorating theIsraeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. It is celebrated either on the 5th of Iyar, according to the Hebrew calendar, or on one of the preceding or following days, depending on which day of the week this date falls on. Yom Ha’atzmaut is preceded by Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence (Hebrew: הכרזת העצמאות‎, Hakhrazat HaAtzma’ut or Hebrew: מגילת העצמאות‎ Megilat HaAtzma’ut), formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708) byDavid Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization[2][3] and the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.[4]It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day.[5][6] The event is celebrated annually in Israel with a national holiday Yom Ha’atzmaut (Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎, lit. Independence Day) on 5 Iyar of every year according to the Hebrew calendar.Photos by Wikipedia

Large celebratory crowd outside the Dizengoff House (now called Independence Hall) to hear the declaration and signing of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, dated May 14, 1948.

After being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, most of the Sephardic Jews settled in trading cities such as London andAntwerp. By the late sixteenth century they were arriving in Amsterdam and The Hague. The Lopes Suassos were a rich old Sephardic family of Marranos, or Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity under pressure from the Portuguese Inquisition, but once in Amsterdam they openly returned to their true religion, Judaism.Photo by Wikipedia

Aharon Lichtenstein(May 24, 1933 – April 20, 2015) was a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.[1] He was an authority inJewish law (“Halacha”).[2]

Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under RabbiYitzchok Hutner. He earned a BA and semicha (“rabbinic ordination”) at Yeshiva University and a PhD in English Literature atHarvard University, where he studied under Photo by Wikipedia
<h1Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein: Love of the Torah and Love to a Fellow Jew

Shock and Emptiness – Students Eulogize Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein

20.04.2015

A Hesped on Rabbi Ahron Lichtenstein by Rabbi Yochanan Schrader

20.04.2015
Baruch Dayan Emet. One of the greatest has left us. This is a Hesped said by Rabbi Yochanan Schrader, in the Beit Midrash of Akiva Hebrew day school in Southfield Michigan.
The photo is from a Shiur that Rav Lichtenstein gave in the Beit Midrash of the Hesder Yeshivah of Yerucham

Yom Hazikaron

Remembering Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror.

Yom Hazikaron

Yom Hazikaron (Hebrew: יום הזיכרון לחללי מערכות ישראל ולנפגעי פעולות האיבה‎, lit. Day of Remembrance for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism) is Israel’s official Memorial Day. The national observance was enacted into law in 1963. While Yom Hazikaron has been traditionally dedicated to fallen soldiers, commemoration has now been extended to civilian victims of the ongoing armed dispute.

IDF soldiers at Yom Hazikaron ceremony, 2007

An IDF officer places new flags on the graves of IDF soldiers for Yom Hazikaron.

Yom Hazikaron (in full Yom Hazikaron l’Chalalei Ma’arachot Yisrael ul’Nifgaei Peulot Ha’eivah Hebrew: יום הזיכרון לחללי מערכות ישראל ולנפגעי פעולות האיבה‎; lit. “Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism”)[1] is Israel’s officialMemorial Day,[2] enacted into law in 1963.[3] While Yom Hazikaron has been traditionally dedicated to fallen soldiers, commemoration has now been extended to civilian victims of political violence,[4] Palestinian political violence,[5] and terrorism in general Photo by Wikipedia

On April 16, 1968, the novelist and playwright Edna Ferber died, at her home in New York.Today Ferber may be best known for the popular films that …

Edna Ferber – Long Distance

12.12.2014
Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie).

Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper and his Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born wife, Jacob Charles and Julia (Neumann) Ferber. After living in Chicago, Illinois, and Ottumwa, Iowa, at the age of 12 Ferber and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where she graduated from high school and briefly attended Lawrence University. She took newspaper jobs at the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal before publishing her first novel. She covered the 1920 Republican National Convention and 1920 Democratic National Convention for the United Press Association.

Ferber’s novels generally featured strong female protagonists, along with a rich and diverse collection of supporting characters. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination ethnically or for other reasons; through this technique, Ferber demonstrated her belief that people are people and that the not-so-pretty persons have the best character. Several theatrical and film productions have been based on her works, including Show Boat, Giant, Ice Palace, Saratoga Trunk, Cimarron (which won an Oscar) and the 1960 remake. Three of these works – Show Boat, Saratoga Trunk and Giant – have been developed into musicals.

When composer Jerome Kern proposed turning the very serious Show Boat into a musical, Ferber was shocked, thinking it would be transformed into a typical light entertainment of the 1920s. It was not until Kern explained that he and Oscar Hammerstein II wanted to create a different type of musical that Ferber granted him the rights. Saratoga, based on Saratoga Trunk, was written at a much later date, after serious plots had become acceptable in stage musicals. In 1925, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book So Big, which was made into a silent film starring Colleen Moore that same year. An early talkie movie remake followed, in 1932, starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent, with Bette Davis in a supporting role. A 1953 remake of So Big starred Jane Wyman in the Stanwyck role, and is the version most often seen today.

Edna Ferber(August 15, 1885[1] – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical),Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie).

Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, Jacob Charles Ferber, and hisMilwaukee, Wisconsin-born wife, Julia (Neumann) Ferber. After living in Chicago, Illinois, and Ottumwa, Iowa, at the age of 12 Ferber and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin,……Wikipedia

David Émile Durkheim(French: [emil dyʁkɛm]or[dyʁkajm];[1] April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher. He formally established the academic discipline and — with Karl Marx and Max Weber — is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.,,,,,

Emile Durkheim was born in Épinal in Lorraine, coming from a long line of devout French Jews; his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been rabbis.[8] He began his education in a rabbinical school, but at an early age, he decided not to follow in his family’s footsteps and switched schools.[8][9] Durkheim led a completely secular life. Much of his work was dedicated to demonstrating that religious phenomena stemmed from social rather than divine factors.Photo by Wikipedia

Sociological Theory: Emile Durkhiem and Social Solidarity

Conceptual art and historical imagery vivifies a discussion of Emile Durkhiem’s Division of Labour in Society. The video focuses upon differences between traditional “mechanical” solidarity and modern “organic” solidarity.

Haaretz

Yet Lessing was probably the most important figure in the German theater of his day, and he remains influential today, as much for his work as a ..

Nathan the Wise(original German title: Nathan der Weise) is a play published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. Its performance was forbidden by the church during Lessing’s lifetime; it was first performed in 1783 inBerlin. In 1922 it was adapted into a silent film of the same title.

Set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade, it describes how the wise Jewish merchant Nathan, the enlightened sultan Saladin, and the (initially anonymous) Templar bridge their gaps between Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Its major themes are friendship, tolerance, relativism of God, a rejection of miracles and a need for communication.

Recha Welcoming Her Father. From an incomplete series of illustrations for the play Nathan the Wise. Photo by Wikipedia

In August of 1778, the non-Jewish writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing wrote to his brother of a new literary project designed to further tolerance of Jews in German society. The result was Nathan the Wise, a sensation that was initially banned by the Church and heavily criticized by antisemites of the day.

Evelyn Einstein(28 March 1941 – 13 April 2011) was the adopted daughter of Hans Albert Einstein, the son of Albert Einstein

Einstein was born in Chicago; after her birth she was adopted by Hans Albert Einstein. She obtained a Master’s degree in Medieval literature at University of California, Berkeley. She was married to Grover Krantz for 13 years. She then worked briefly as an animal control officer, as a cult deprogrammer and as a Berkeley, California reserve police officer.

Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda (Hebrew: אליעזר בן־יהודה‎‎ pronounced [ɛli’ʕɛzeʁ bɛn jɛhu’da]; 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Litvaklexicographer and newspaper editor. He was the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern era.

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman[citation needed] (Yiddish אליעזר יצחק פערלמאן), in Luzhki (Belarusian Лужкі (Lužki), PolishŁużki), Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus). He attended cheder where he studied Hebrew and the Bible from the age of three,[citation needed] as was customary among the Jews of Eastern Europe. Photo by Wikipedia

Revival of Hebrew

While Hebrew had remained the language of study and prayer, it had not been a spoken language for centuries. Few believed it could again become a tongue of everyday speech, but one man did, and dedicated his life to reviving Hebrew. His name was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

Itamar Ben-Avi (Also Ittamar, Hebrew: איתמר בן אב”י‎; born Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda, בן-ציון בן-יהודה on 31 July 1882, died 8 April 1943) was the son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. Eliezer is credited with reviving the Hebrew language and brought up Itamar to be the first native speaker of what would become Modern Hebrew. Ben-Avi worked as a journalist (starting with his father’s newspaper HaZvi), and as a Zionist activist.

Ben-Zion grew up speaking modern Hebrew with his parents, making him the first native speaker of the Hebrew language in over a thousand years. When he was very young, Photo by Wikipedia